


Mayhem

by dralexreid



Series: Dr Piper Bishop [20]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27052564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dralexreid/pseuds/dralexreid
Relationships: Dr Spencer Reid/Dr Piper Bishop
Series: Dr Piper Bishop [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972852
Kudos: 21





	Mayhem

_Piper was pacing in the conference room, tossing a marker in her hand, going through the motions as she found the missing piece. She rummaged through the evidence, pulling out the tarot card. It was personal, for us. Her veins ran cold. How could she be so stupid? Death. She ran to the elevator, but it had already gone down. Panicking, she sprinted to the nearest window. She pulled out her phone, dialling the most recently dialled number, not even thinking. “Don’t start the car!” she yelled into the phone, but her heart sank as she saw an SUV blow up in front of her eyes. Her knees buckled and she didn’t stop herself hit the floor. “No.” She whispered, closing her eyes, wishing for it all to be over._

“ _Piper? What’s wrong?”_ Spencer’s voice flooded into her ear. _“Pipes, are you crying?”_

“The tarot card, Spence. Death. That was their target.” She sobbed. “I coul– I couldn’t stop it. Spence. ”

 _“Wait, I’m coming back up.”_ Spencer ran out of the car, sprinting back up to the office quarters, oblivious to the explosion on the other side of the building, her sobs echoing in his ears. 

She felt gentle hands lift her up and she melted into Spencer’s embrace. “They were targeting us, one of our SUVs.” She immediately pushed herself off. “So who was it?” Panicked, they tried calling everyone but the cells weren’t working. “Network’s down. Where would they go?”

“NYPD’s Command Centre for joint operations. We have to go there.” Piper stared out the window as Spencer drove. There had only been one SUV blown up. They didn’t know whose. Just that they had to get somewhere safe. In the back, all the evidence was stored in the tubs. As soon as the SUV stopped, Piper ran out, lugging the evidence with them on the way in. Relief washed over her as she saw Rossi standing, staring at the TV screen. He enveloped them in a quick hug. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“We tried reaching people but–”

“Can’t, the communications network is crashing. And what do you two mean by ‘glad I’m okay’?”

“The car bomb. Didn’t they– Rossi, it’s a black SUV. We don’t know who’s safe and who isn’t.”

“How do you know this?”

“The explosion was right outside the field office, on the far side of the road. I have no idea who took which SUV, no idea who’s hurt.”

“Garcia has a satellite phone. I don’t know why, but we could try to reach her,” Spencer recalled as he dialled the number. “Where are you?” 

_“I just walked into the CCTV Command Post.”_

“Can you see anything?” 

_“I literally just walked through the door, Spencer.”_

“We got on the news it was an SUV that exploded. A black SUV within blocks of the federal plaza.” 

_“Oh, god.”_

“Now, do you have eyes there?” 

_“I, uh–yeah, yeah, I’ve got like 300 cameras right there. Give me a sec.”_

“I’m here with Rossi and Piper, but I don’t know where anyone else is. Find them, Garcia.” Piper wiped her face with her hand.

^-^

Penelope starting ringing everyone, feeling relieved as she heard Derek and Emily’s voices. But there was still no response from Hotch or JJ. Instead of giving in to her inner worry, Penelope forged ahead, finding every camera angle of the explosion possible to see Hotch and Kate walk up to the SUV, to see it explode, rewinding it to see the bastard in that damned hoodie, switching angles to see him walk over to behind a column, fast forward it to see him walk out sans hoodie, talking to her boss.

“He watched it,” she whispered, “that son of a bitch watched it all.” She dialled Derek as fast as she could, praying for service.

“ _Garcia, I got Hotch. But listen to me. You gotta get somebody down here right away, you hear me? Right now.”_

 _“_ Derek, listen to me, there’s someone else there, he’s the bomber.”

“ _The kid? You’re sure?”_

 _“_ As sure as I love warm, buttery croissants.” She heard the line cut and let out a sob. She dialled the number Spencer called her from.

“ _Hello?”_ A soft, weak voice spoke from the phone. “ _This is Dr Piper Bishop, who is this?”_

 _“_ Pipes, oh god, are you okay?”

“ _Nothing a shower won’t fix. Is…is everyone okay?”_

 _“_ Oh, Pipes, it’s Hotch and Kate’s SUV. But they weren’t in it yet.”

“ _So they’re okay?”_ Penelope heard the hope rise in her voice.

“They’re injured, the ambulance won’t get them though.”

“ _Shit, I forgot. We thought the first responders were the real target. Do… Are they gonna be okay?”_ Piper’s voice shook.

“I…I don’t know. JJ won’t pick up, Morgan’s chasing the bomber and Emily’s headed to a command centre. I don’t know which one.”

“ _Thank you, Pen.”_

 _“_ Piper, be safe.” She heard her laugh derisively.

“ _I was never the one in a black SUV, Penny. I– I have to go. Bye Pen.”_ And just like that, her last friend clicked away.

^-^

Piper lay her head in her hands as Spencer paced. Rossi surveyed the board, turning at the sound of a familiar voice. “Emily,” she breathed, launching herself at her friend. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, you all okay?”

“Yeah, our cars were fine,” Rossi said.

“Not Hotch’s,” Piper muttered darkly.

“Wait, what?” JJ asked, showing up and Emily enveloped her in a hug. 

“I should have figured it out sooner. The tarot card was personal, left for us. They meant death for us. Placed a bomb under Hotch’s SUV. They never got in. The bomb blew as they were walking to the car.” Piper’s voice was hollow. “Morgan’s running after a possible suspect, Garcia’s figuring out how we can help.”

“Wait…” Reid murmured, turning over the tarot card. “They never delivered on it.” He caught blank stares from the team. “I mean, no-one’s dead. Hotch and Kate are injured, they weren’t in the SUV.”

“It was a remote detonation,” Piper considered. “The unsub was still there. He could’ve waited till they got inside.”

“With a cell as large as this one and multiple targets to choose from, they target a single SUV?” Rossi pondered. The question remained unanswered as the phone rang. Emily answered before turning to the fax machine. They watched as Emily put up pictures of the unsub Morgan was chasing. Then the one she shot that week.

“These are smart, well-educated kids, hand-picked and trained to be martyrs. They’re not gonna be in any government file and they won’t have rap sheets,” Rossi noted as Piper kept pacing next to him.

“Hotch and Kate are at St. Barclay’s Hospital,” JJ announced. 

“How are they?” Piper looked up.

“Well, Hotch is in the ER, Kate’s in surgery. Morgan’s on his way down there now.”

“There’s got to be more.” Piper racked her brain. “They shot 6 people in different subways to create chaos and terror. They left a tarot card saying death for us so we know that they know we’re here. They shot a cop and then let themselves be gunned down by Emily to show the strength of their convictions. Everyone’s trapped on the island, all trains have been closed down. They found nothing at any of the sites that we told them that these guys were targeting. What are they targeting then?”

“The profile’s wrong,” Rossi stood up, meeting her eyes. “Everything they’ve done so far has appeared to be something it’s not.” 

“I don’t follow.” 

“The seemingly random acts of murder, the attempt to hack into our security surveillance systems. The suicide by cop to make us all believe that it was over. Don’t forget the death card telling us they know we’re watching. All diversions. To ensure our attention and analysis of any given situation would then incorrectly inform our profile.” 

“So the first responders were not the real target? Hotch and Kate were a diversion, too? From what?” JJ walked in again, her hand covering the cell.

“Guys, it’s Morgan. Hotch wants us all at St Barclay’s now.” They dispersed, gathering their things. Piper grabbed her blazer and passed Spencer his satchel as Emily grabbed her laptop and Rossi grabbed his keys. The four of them sat in the one SUV, Piper staring at her credentials. She was sick of her team constantly being in danger. Putting herself in danger, she could control. But them? Piper passed Emily a spare elastic for her hair and passed Spencer his Kevlar vest, glaring down his pouting look. 

They waited outside Hotch’s room as he changed into the clothes they brought. Piper helped him with the bulletproof vest, or as Garcia would put it, his bullet-resistant vest as he spoke quietly. “I just want to understand why I’m still alive.” 

“I think the idea was to maim, not to kill.” She guided him outside to the team.

“Did you identify Sam, the bomber?” 

“Garcia put Sam and the other dead unsub into every known database. Nothing.”

“We know how terror cells evolve,” Rossi spoke. “They learn from one campaign to the next. How to stay off the radar like the London Bombers.” 

“Yeah, but they, uh, they hit at 8:50 in the morning with a series of coordinated blasts aimed at London’s transportation system, and this cell targeted a lone SUV where the only people on the street are 2 federal agents,” Hotch spoke, his voice laced with helplessness.

“It’s not multiple targets, it’s one target,” Morgan spoke, crossing his arms. “One target, one bomb.” 

“Garcia said the device was placed under Kate’s SUV,” Rossi thought aloud. 

“It was likely made using oxidising agents, including chromates, peroxides, perchlorates, chlorates, and red mercury, all jammed into a device no larger than a cell phone,” Spencer added, gesturing as he spoke. 

“Imagine what a bomb the size of an oil drum could do,” Morgan scoffed. 

“Yeah, but to make something that big, you’d need a chemical engineer,” Piper added softly. 

“Like the recently deceased Dr Azahari Husin, Asia’s most-wanted bomb-maker? Authorities dubbed him the, uh, demolition man. He treated each bomb like a work of art. One wrong move… He becomes a victim of his own creation,” Rossi spoke disdainfully. “He’ll be more revered than all of the people who died as a result of his devices.” 

“Stop the bomber, stop the bomb,” Emily murmured. 

“To do that, we need to know how they would deploy something that big,” Morgan added. 

“Morgan. Did you ever find Sam’s cell phone?” Hotch asked.

“Yes.” 

“Did he call 911?” 

“No. He dialled one number 6 times every few minutes. It was a disposable cell. Garcia tried to track the number but it went dead minutes after Sam died. Whoever had it destroyed it.”

“Well, if he didn’t have a secondary device to detonate, there’s only one reason that he stayed with us. To make sure the ambulance got to us.” 

“And in a city on lockdown,” Emily realised, “an ambulance with its siren blaring and lights on, it’s gonna make it through every roadblock virtually uncontested.”

“And straight into a hospital with a bypass order,” Hotch murmured.

“What do you mean?” Piper asked him, gently touching his arm.

“Secret service has a bypass on this hospital.” 

“Secret service? Who are they protecting?” 

“That’s who Sam was calling, the paramedic on the ambulance. The ambulance which I drove in here. This hospital is their target. Let’s go.” Hotch beckoned his team to follow behind him as he confronted the Secret Service agent. “Who do you have in here?”

“Why is that information important to you?” 

“The ambulance I drove in here– where is it now?” 

“In the basement. Why?” 

“There’s a bomb in it.” 

“What?” 

“It’s rigged to assassinate whoever it is you’re protecting. You need to get them and everyone else out of here right now.” 

“We can’t do that. He’s undergoing surgery as we speak.” 

“The paramedic I came in with– do you have eyes on him? Is that a cell in his hands? Rossi, get Garcia to remote access the cell phone grid and jam all the frequencies.” Rossi moved away from the group as he raised his radio. “Where the hell is Morgan?”

“He went to find the ambulance,” Spencer spoke, wringing his hands. 

“Alone?” Hotch commanded. The five of them sped down through to the basement, guns at the ready. They rushed down the stairs as Derek glanced through the ambulance window. He pulled up his radio, talking to Garcia.

 _“You’ve only got three minutes till the satellite comes back around.”_ Three minutes to get the bomb out of there. He ran around to the driver’s seat, getting in and trying to jumpstart the ambulance, ordering Garcia to get him directions to the nearest area of town he can drive. 

“You tell everybody, you hear me, everybody, that I’m coming.” She told him to head north and he floored it, waiting for the next direction as the paramedic ran out, yelling and firing at the ambulance.

The five other team members slipped down the stairs and into the basement, still searching for Morgan, the ambulance and the unsub. Silently, they stalked into the parking lot and Spencer, gun up, walked toward the elevator. “Guys,” He whispered to his team. “He shot the Secret Service agents.” Rossi crept west, followed by a limping Hotch as Reid, Bishop and Prentiss sneaked around the other side while Derek drove the ambulance as fast as he could.

“How long Garcia?”

_“Signal’s coming back online. 30 seconds to full coverage. Derek, drive to the opening and then get the hell out.”_

“There’s something I really want you to know, Garcia.” 

20 seconds. 

_“Save it. Just get out.”_

“No, no, no, I’m not quite there yet.” 

10… 

_“Morgan… Just listen to me.”_

9… 8… 

_“Morgan, please.”_

“You know what you are, Garcia?” There was a pregnant pause on the line as the service came back online. The paramedic was seated cross-legged against a wired fence as Spencer, Piper and Emily approached him, silent as the grave. Emily glanced at Piper who had determination etched on her face. They fanned out to arrest him, but it was too late. He had pressed the button. The ambulance rolled in the grassy terrain as the bomb detonated, fire bursting out of the ambulance and spurting out metal as Derek watched from a distance. He leaned into his radio as he spoke to Garcia. “I’ll tell you what you are to me. You’re my god-given solace. Woman, you promise me one thing… Whatever happens… Don’t you ever stop talking to me.”

“ _I can’t right now, ‘cause I’m mad at you. I’m sending someone to pick you up.”_

Piper studied the paramedic, crimson liquid dripping down his neck, his uniform soaked in blood and blood dripping from the knife in his had. Too late indeed.


End file.
